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How to transfer shows to new TiVo

Q. I set up my new TiVo and never saw any option to copy over shows recorded on the old one. Is it too late to do that after I've switched my service to the new model? A. It's not too late, as I discovered

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How to transfer shows to new TiVo

The new TiVo Roamio DVRs integrate Net video services such as Netflix into your digital cable and Verizon FiOS programming into the system and let you download and stream content from the set-top box.(Photo: None, TiVo)

Wait an hour or so, then instruct each TiVo box to connect to the TiVo service: Press the TiVo-logo button at the top of the remote, select "Messages & Settings" or "Settings & Messages" and then "Phone & Network" or just "Network" (the titles vary between different lines of TiVo hardware) and then "Connect to the TiVo service now."

Finally, you can pull over those old recordings. On the new TiVo, go to the "My Shows" screen (if the newer TiVo is a Premiere model, go to "Now Playing" instead) and you should see the old TiVo listed at the bottom. Select it, and you should finally see a list of recordings.

There's no "transfer all" button, so you have to bring up each one and then select "Transfer this recording."

Have something to read. My in-laws' Wi-Fi isn't the fastest ever, but I still usually waited half a minute to go from the list of recordings to the detail page for each — and then I often waited another 45 seconds for confirmation that the transfer had been queued up.

It is kind of bonkers that TiVo makes this process so tedious, considering how much the company relies on repeat business. It's also bizarre to see any device with an always-on Internet connection limit itself to using it every one to two days, as if it still had to log on via dial-up.

TiVo's response was that the one-at-a-time file transfer can't be helped: TV providers and individual channels can prohibit copies of recordings. As for the lack of any sort of cloud synchronization, it's coming.

"We plan to incorporate the season pass migration more seamlessly into the activation process later this year," a statement read. "We are also migrating functions like suggestions and other personalization functions into the cloud."

Tip: Ease family tech support with a password-manager site — for you, not them

The answer was right on my own laptop's screen. The LastPass password-manager site I use can store "secure notes," so I used one to store a few key passwords I might need for future troubleshooting in person or over the phone. (You don't want to use the usual password-saving option that will automate your log-in at a site, unless your relatives are OK with you signing into Facebook as them.)

You can do the same thing in other password-management systems. See, for instance, the equivalent secure-note features in Dashlane and 1Password.

Understand that by doing this, you're now taking responsibility for somebody else's online security, not just your own. Don't abuse your access, make sure your password-manager password is unique to that service, and defend that login with two-step verification (available at LastPass and Dashlane) if it's an option.